Chudzinski press conf. transcript - 9/27

Opening statement: “Good afternoon. I look forward to the Battle of Ohio and being back with our fans here at home in the stadium. I need them to get there early and be loud and prepared for a great game. I’m pleased with the week of practice. This is a tremendous challenge for us. The Bengals are a very talented group, as we all know. We’ll need all hands on deck. It’ll be a team effort on Sunday, and that’s what we’ll need to play the game. As far as injuries go, (QB Brandon) Weeden, (LB Quentin) Grooves and (DL Billy) Winn we have listed as out for the game; we have (LB) Jabaal Sheard as doubtful; (K) Billy Cundiff and (OL) Shawn Lauvao as questionable.”

On using other players who haven’t played yet this season to fill in on defense: “We will. We’ve practiced those guys and we’re ready, if need be, for those guys to play.”

On if Cundiff kicked today and if he will play Sunday: “He did. He kicked. He seems to have no problems with that. We’ll see tomorrow how he feels. We have a plan and we’ll stick to that plan going forward.”

On if the plan is to bring in another kicker: “We have possibilities with (P) Spencer (Lanning), as well as other guys that are out there.”

On injuries on defense affecting the pass rush: “We feel like we have some other guys that can rush the passer as well. Again, those guys have gotten reps the last few weeks and this week, as well. Injuries are a part of what you’re dealing with during the course of the season so it’s time for guys to step up, and I expect no less from the guys that play.”

On rookie LB Barkevious Mingo progressing since returning from injury: “I think he’s really progressed, not just on the field, as a player from that standpoint. He’s a guy that has tremendous conditioning. I haven’t worried about that. He’s been getting more and more reps every week. Like I said, we have some guys who will be able to come in and play, and we can still have a rotation in there if Jabaal can’t play.”

On Mingo developing in run defense: “He has. A lot of that is just learning the defense and learning the techniques and getting better. He plays with real good leverage. That shows in his strength. He has some natural strength that he plays with that type of leverage. He’s really improved. All parts of his game have really improved.”

On attempting more than 50 passes in each of the first two games and if it is a result of situations or based on the run game: “A lot of it is situation and how things go through the course of the game. We’ll just see. I think every game is different. We approach it that whatever we need to do to, whether that’s run or pass, we’ll try to do it.”

On if Weeden threw this week: “He did. He’s throwing. He’s going to throw again tomorrow, but he’s progressing.”

On when Weeden first threw: “Today was the first day with a football.”

On RB Willis McGahee improving since last week: “I expect he will improve and has improved. Just getting back out there and playing again, just from a physical standpoint, getting back into it has been good for him. I think he’ll continue to keep improving. Mentally, again, he’s familiar with the system and the terminology so that really hasn’t been an issue at all.”

On talking to QB Brian Hoyer regarding playing his first home game in his hometown: “I know he’s excited about his opportunity. We’ve talked mostly just about focusing on what we need to do and all the other things, blocking those things out and not worrying about those things.”

On Hoyer being able to block out emotions: “Just based on the game and last game, he’s shown the ability to do that.”

On how WR Greg Little has responded to not starting: “Greg is a hard worker to begin with. I think it’s given him the opportunity to refocus on some things. Obviously, we’ve been able to get him on the kick off, which has been a good thing. As I’ve seen this week, he’s making plays so that’s step one. Let’s carry it over to the field, and I expect Greg to do that.”

On the possibility of playing Little in at running back: “No, we’re working on receiver first.”

On OL Joe Thomas and starting his 100th consecutive game: “I can’t say enough great things about Joe Thomas. He’s fabulous. This past game, he was outstanding. The things that he’s done, especially from a leadership standpoint with the team, he was huge in us last week in that game. I just can’t say enough about the guy. He’s a Hall of Famer; he’s going to be a Hall of Famer. One hundred games in a row is almost unheard of. It speaks to his durability and how good he is. I’m just glad he’s on our team.”

On if he has to have a conversation with Hoyer about the extra emotions playing in his hometown: “He’s a pro, and he understands that. Once the ball is kicked off, it’s football. He’s playing the game that he’s played his whole life. He knows what expectations are, and he’ll get into the course of the game and we won’t be thinking a thing about that.”

On the third-down offense’s progress: “We need to continue to improve offensively. I think that comes with more time on task. One of the things that we want to continue to improve on is protection. We’re working on that. I think the guys are playing better and getting better. I think they’re understanding what we want to do, and from a role standpoint, you’re seeing some guys develop and evolve into roles that we have them in.”

On more clarity on Sheard’s injury: “We’ll see how he’s doing. The good thing to me is that as you looked at Jabaal last week, he got hurt and he was able to come back after he was hurt and play some more. So that’s the encouraging thing.”

On if Sheard did more harm than good playing after getting hurt: “It didn’t seem that that was the case.”

On risking a negative play like a sack for a big play: “You never want to concede that, but that’s part of football. No matter what you do, there’s things that can happen that may be negative or not exactly what you want and how you draw it up. You just have to be able to react to it and understand things aren’t always going to come up how you draw them up and work. It’s a matter of coming back and continuing to attack, in our case, and be aggressive.”

On a sack not being devastating: “Yeah, so you come back in and you’re not fazed by it. Obviously, you don’t want it to be a pattern, but like I said, they’re not always going to come up the way you draw them up.”

On Lauvao in practice and if he can start: “We’ll wait and see how he feels, and we’ll evaluate this practice and take a look at it on tape. He’s been working in and getting a good feel back into it. He’s moving around pretty well. That’s why we listed him as questionable.”